Teaching German

Film

Waking up in purgatory: Kenyan-German film 'Kati Kati' opens in Germany

"Kati Kati," a co-production between Kenya and Germany, is set to screen in Germany for the first time Thursday at Berlin's Babylon cinema.

"Kati Kati" is making its German premiere as part of the German-African Symposium on Creative Economy & Cultural Entrepreneurship, an initiative organized by One Fine Day Films, the Göhde Foundation, the German-African Business Association, Rushlake Media and the Heinrich Böll Foundation. The symposium aims to highlight German and African cultural and creative industries.

Following its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, "Kati Kati" director Mbithi Masya was given the Fipresci Discovery Award, selected by an international jury.

Resolving unfinished business

The film, in Swahili and English, stars Nyokabi Gethaiga as Kaleche, a young woman who wakes up in a hospital gown in what appears to be some sort of day camp. She soon finds out, however, that she has died, and along with other spirits in this purgatory she must find a way to resolve her unfinished business and move on.

Nyokabi Gethaiga stars in "Kati Kati"

"Kati Kati" was produced by One Fine Day Films, a company launched by German director Tom Tykwer - known for films like "Lola rennt" ("Run Lola Run") (1998), "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" (2006) and "Cloud Atlas" (2012) - along with his wife, Marie Steinmann-Tykwer in 2008.

"Without the creative and financial cooperation between Germany and Kenya, the production of 'Kati Kati' and our other recent films would not have been possible," said the film's producer Sarika Hemi Lakhani.

Over the last eight years, One Fine Day Films has helped train more than 1,000 filmmakers from 21 African countries, and produced five films, including "Nairobi Half Life," Kenya's 2012 entry for the best foreign language film at the Academy Awards.